Which album is their "masterpiece"?

[Vinylalbumcovers]

Mark (mstaft) gave me an idea. I'm wondering which album of the Carpenters you find to be their master stroke? I can think of a couple that I'd pick for different reasons. What about you? Don't forget to wax philosophical as to why you picked the album you picked.

Ed

P.S.: Note that I only include albums recorded while Karen was alive. "Voice", "Lovelines", et al can't be included as she nothing to do with their assembly.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

Oh yeah. I went for "Passage". For me, it is the most ambitious thing they did. They start with with the cool & jazzy "B'wana She No Home". Karen never sounded like that either before or again. It's also the only time on a Carpenters record when Richard doesn't do the vocal arrangement.

From there, they head off in other interesting directions. They tackle "Evita" and spacey epic balladry - all without sounding forced. They were never so creatively rambunctious on record as they were on "Passage". I applaud the adventurousness. As such, I feel it is their masterpiece.

Ed

 

[Mark-T]

Horizon- it is elegant, warm, and filled with great vocals, arrangements, and production. The song choices are stellar as well.

 

[Dave]

Song For You is a "conceptual" masterpiece, in my opinion... And so many of the songs made it onto singles, but the album really sounds good as a whole... (Right down to "Intermission", dividing the two-sides...) All that was needed was the non-stop-gaps linking the songs the way Singles, 1969-1973 did...



Dave

 

[newvillefan]

'A Song For You' for me. 'Horizon' is lovely, but doesn't capture them in their heyday as much as this album does. It's like every other track is a hit single. Her voice was never better than on the title track.

 

[aaflyer98]

Although "Made In America" is my favorite Carpenters album of all time, I voted for "A Song For You", as it is, indeed, a masterpice. From Start to Finish. Perfection. A very strong pop album perfectly suited for them...and a huge commercial success.

 

[milwaukeeburt]

Horizon is my vote. It was the tipping point-- what was, and what would be. Unfortunately, what would be never fully came to fruition. The follow up A Kind of Hush was enormously disappointing, and nothing after ever came close. Everything prior was building to Horizon's brilliance, especially considering the omission of Trying to Get the Feeling Again. Sonically superior to anything they did before or after, not so sure about the actual song selection though. Not cohesive like A Song For You, but smattered with different genres, all of them successful. But overall an uneven whole. The highlight for me was Happy, a look into the future with synth and other elements that redefined their music in such a way that it was still the Carpenters, but updated, fresh, new, and looking forward. As we all know, Karen's health was an issue and it precluded them from fully realizing their extraordinary potential. After Horizon, there were moments of brilliance, but never the full onslaught of perfection that Karen and Richard delivered on what would be the album that prefaced their downfall.

 

[Tony]

My favorite, Close to You, isn't on the list. But I'm happy to see someone (Ed) giving props to Passage, another of my favs that often gets overlooked, and I'm even more glad to read the favorable words for "B'wana..." because I think Karen sounds amazing on that record. I wish she had explored that vein even more.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

A SONG FOR YOU, definitely. To me it's their masterpiece as a group.

HORIZON is a terrific document of Karen's vocals, but for the entity of the Carpenters, ASFY can't be beat in my book. On that album, you get the full gamut of their styles.

 

[Larry]

My favorite and the one I voted for is HORIZON. If I need a Karen fix, it's the one I always choose. Her vocals are so prominent, it's like she's actually there in the room with me. If I want to be completely engulfed in her voice, I'll listen in the dark.

 

[Rudy]

"A Song For You" was my vote. Everything was working at that point--great songs by Carpenter/Bettis and Williams/Nichols, tight arrangements and production, etc. It seems like everything Richard worked toward was solidified on that album as a whole.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I'll vote for "A Song For You"...it really was the peak of their career in terms of LPs. As far as singles..."Yesterday Once More" would probably be my choice...if "Now & Then" could've matched "Yesterday", it might have been two masterpiece LPs in a row.

---Michael Hagerty

 

[cam89]

I chose CLOSE TO YOU. It was a very special album and contained all sorts of musical styles. From Country of REASON TO BELIEVE, to Pop, of BABY IT'S YOU to Classical styled choral of ANOTHER SONG and CRESCENT NOON to oldies of HELP (well not that old...). It contained a lot of musical styles. I think the album of Part 2 would be A SONG FOR YOU, followed by PASSAGE as Part 3 with Part 4 of MADE IN AMERICA.

 

[Harry]

A SONG FOR YOU is tops in my book. It's a perfect album in many ways.

Harry

 

[no1kandrfan]

This was a very difficult decision! I had no doubt that the choice came down to either A Song For You or Horizon, and I was leaning towards Horizon. But after reading all of these enlightening comments I took a listen to both and have to go with ASFY.

My reasons, and many have already been stated, is that it is simply a wonderful mix - the songs, arrangements, packaging, etc. Karen sang with a bit of 'attitude'. The song, A Song For You is sublime; Road Ode is probably my favorite of all their album cuts. Intermission was brilliant - and the a cappella vocal arrangement still gives me goose bumps (listen to it with headphones), and a good laugh.

Horizon, as someone said, features Karen at her best - the opening bars of Only Yesterday is a prime example. Desperado is exceptional. Plus the engineering/mixing of the album is top notch - the drums, on almost every track, just seem to jump out at you - Jim Gordon did a wonderful job.

A Song For You is best, with Horizon at a very close second.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Thinking about this some more, really the only thing I don't like about A SONG FOR YOU is the front cover. The rest of the package is great.

 

[Jeff]

As far as production values and Karen's voice at that time HORIZON is my choice hands down. We hear a more mature KC and her interpretive skills seem finely honed. This is the Karen Carpenter that sets her apart from the others. Her finest work... sadly the beginning of the end.

Jeff

 

[Murray]

Another vote for A Song For You here! As has already been mentioned, this album represented the Carpenters at their commercial and creative peak.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I think if you were to take a poll, "Which album has Karen's best vocal performance overall?" HORIZON would win hands down. Although I think just as much credit should go to the recording engineer for that album -- she sounds great for that reason, too.

 

[toeknee4bz]

HORIZON.
"Aurora" and "Eventide" are the perfect quotation marks for a vocal and production statement which would be the pinnacle of their career. What is there not to like? The echo-chamber of drums and vocals on "Please Mr. Postman", every spine-tingling nuance of "Solitaire", the amazing synthesizer solo at the end of "Happy", and the haunting rendition of the Eagles classic "Desperado" all equal one description: POLISH, and evidence of a well-oiled machine at this point.

Tony

 

[Chris_Sydney]

'Horizon'.


x

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Well "masterpiece" is a huge word here when defining there albums, for me it would have to Horizon. The way the album opens and closes it almost sets the mood of which suits Karen's vocal to a tee. I feel this was probably an album of which captures Karen voice in it's perfect state, she was polished past the younger days when her voice was just maturing yet it wasn't all the way there yet as we hear in MIA. It was somewhere in the middle and I just love hearing her sing on this album.

A Song for You has more of their hits and that album pretty much defined them as a duo. I guess I have a closer attachment to the Horizon album than ASFY.

I will say had A Christmas Portrait been an option to choose that would have been my choice. I feel Christmas Portrait is indeed a "masterpiece" of an album and one that has and will stand the test of time forever and ever.

 

[Jeff]

What did the recording engineer do differently to the HORIZON lead vocal that sets it apart? I'd have to research a bit but I thought that K&R pretty much used the same mastering guys and engineers all along. If this is the case then why the obvious difference in many successive leads? Something like YOU'RE THE ONE has the HORIZON presence thing yet HUSH does not. It seems to me that each outing would or should've tried to recreate that fullness, richness, depth and warmth so apparent in SOLITAIRE and on. Oh well, tech I'm not. Karen could sing on two cans and a string and still top the charts and thrill me at the same time. Curious tho about the studio magic. There's so much RC could convey about the individual projects that would be fascinating for many members and audiophiles alike. Perhaps one of our guys in the know at the forum could enlighten us.

Jeff

 

[Karenannefan]

I voted for 'Horizon'

I have always loved this album, Karen's voice is just perfect in so many ways. The only song I don't like on here and seems in my opinion out of place is 'Please Mr Postman'

The rest of the album is perfection... and I love the album cover as well.

 

[toeknee4bz]

What did the recording engineer do differently to the HORIZON lead vocal that sets it apart? Perhaps one of our guys in the know at the forum could enlighten us.

Jeff

Well, I'm no expert @ sound engineering, but I do know that part of the reason that today's music is so flat boring is that there is no reverb, in the vocal or in the instrumentation.
In the case of the classic Carpenters sound, I would say that the echo effect added to the overdubs were largely responsible for their unique style, and HORIZON was no different. Sometimes you just can't explain these things. Just listen to the opening verse of "Only Yesterday"... It's so good that it just gives you chills!

Tony